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Just when you thought the truck traffic problem on 27th could get no worse the the HB considerably exacerbates the heavy truck problem by putting a CEMENT TRUCK CLEANING STATION on 27th street immediately adjacent to the kiddie park section of Valley Park.

The HB Public Works Department placed the Cement Truck Cleaning station about 25 yards down the road from one on several signs prohibiting commercial trucks over 3 tons.

This Cement Truck cleaning station is supposedly needed to support a City of MANHATTAN BEACH - Highland & Manhattan Ave Paving & Construction project mainly in Manhattan Beach. This cleaning station is about 50 yards from my front door. Yeah, I guess that will teach me to make complaints about the truck traffic on 27th street.

But a fully loaded cement truck can weigh 60 tons and this is not a game

27th street is a steep narrow road with even narrower sidewalks made still narrower by the presence of telephone poles on the sidewalk. Houses are crammed up next to the sidewalk on this already heavily travelled street and these heavy trucks pass inches from pedestrians and cyclists westbound on 27th street.

Even Hermosa Beaches own lawyer Michael Jenkins, Esq. said most of the heavy truck traffic on 27 was illegal in communications I provided the city council and HBPD

These heavy trucks blow through the no trucks signs with impunity, endangering our children, pedestrians and cyclists, polluting our yards with highly toxic diesel particulate matter (DPM) and destroying 27th street road. The smell of diesel and auto-exhaust during rush hour and many times during the day is oppressive. The leaves in my yard are blackened by this toxic pollution.

Diesel truck exhaust pipes pass within 4 feet of the property lines on 27th westbound and many older houses are positioned right next to the sidewalk.

So why would the city of HB public works department exacerbate an already toxic, road-damaging and dangerous situation by placing a cement truck-cleaning station adjacent to the kiddie-park?

To be clear, based on the amount of damage on 27th this is clearly not engineered or designed for heavy truck traffic; it doesn't take a Phd to see that.

Why would the HB Public Works Department NOT put Cement Truck cleaning station on an ESTABLISHED TRUCK ROUTE?

Projects happen but they need to be competently planned.

So what did our city do in the case of the afore mentioned Manhattan Beach roads project?

Instead of insuring that these mega-trucks enter and exit the construction site using available truck routes of which there are plenty including on Highland, Manhattan Ave., Hermosa Ave., Manhattan Blvd and Valley Drive and Longfellow, the city allowed Manhattan Beach to dump the heavy truck traffic onto 27th; an already heavily damaged street already plagued by illegal truck traffic, pedestrian danger noise and pollution and noise.

LA COUNTY put up the no trucks sign as a common sense measure because of the noise, narrow, steep roads and sidewalks, pollution, the obvious safety issues and the fact that heavy trucks would tear up 27 th creating noise and pollution for the residents as these trucks slam over load-induced road-ripples. Pot holes, etc.
.

It's simply outlandish to say that with all the available truck routes the ONLY SAFE PLACE the HB Public Works Department could find for a cement truck cleaning station was adjacent to the kiddie-park on a road next to a busy park with steep narrow sidewalks and streets.

This blatantly stupid defies understanding.

Some of the cement trucks after cleaning their spouts go to the intersection of 27th and morningside and try and do a U TURN to go back to artesia. As they do this they are honking their horns as they back up because they can't see what's behind them.

I emailed the city council a video clip of this because I could not get the web site will not accept photos or video clips. In the video clip a cement truck can be seen doing a blind U-turn at the intersection of 27th and Morningside. The truck driver is blasting his horn in addition to the reverse gear beepers because he really can't see what's behind him. Right next to a Park and a busy sidewalk crosswalk. This happened repeatedly throughout the day.

4 bicyclists are waiting for the cement truck to clearand the traffic backed up.

The public works person I spoke with said safety was the primary consideration in choosing the cement truck cleaning site's location adjacent to the kiddie-park.

How is this safe? What could city officials possibly be thinking?

Look the time has come to gets team of professionals by outsourcing public works to a consulting firm with broad resources and demonstrated capability to manage a growing city with similar problems.

Just one look at the chaos or our uneven sidewalks, the conditions or our roads on 27th, valley and Ardmore tells you the current department is in over its head. They may be very smart people but they simply do not have the ability to bring the solution our city deserves. And they are not underpaid civil servants. The AVERAGE city employee compensation package exceeds 135k

I live on 8th Street between Valley and PCH and notice that many people use this street to get access to the PCH. Often times, they drive extremely fast speeds, forgetting that it is a residential area with children walking or biking to and from school. Additionally, last month a young woman flipped her car right in front of my house, in the early morning hours, due to speed and hitting a parked car. I ask that speed bumps or radar are installed to prevent any future accidents.

There's been a noticeable increase in motorized vehicles on the Strand in the past year. These range from electric bikes, motorized skateboards and even scooters. Many of these are being driven at unsafe speeds. While there is some precedent for banning these (we banned Segways a while back), I suggest increasing enforcement of the speed limit on the Strand for these types of devices so that they can be safely shared with pedestrians and other non-motorized rides.

The traffic coming and leaving Hermosa on Gould is becoming worse and worse as the years go by during heavy traffic times.

There are 2 specific intersections which are slow, dangerous, and confusing to most drivers.

The intersection of Gould and consecutively Ardmore and Valley (if going East-West): The traffic backs up for 200 yards in the evening in all directions of this intersection. It backs up almost all the way to Morningside in the mornings.

Gould/27th and Manhattan Avenue: This 5 way intersection is really confusing to most drivers. It creates unnecessary honking and frustration.

Both of these intersections should be considered for a revamp using a roundabout each. Roundabouts help keep the traffic flowing and work extremely well all over Europe (and they have much tighter streets than we do).

The argument against a round about on Valley is the walkers/runners need to be able to cross Gould. That could be solved by putting an automated crossing light just like the ones we have on Pier Avenue which work really well.

I understand that the Gould - Valley intersection was just revamped, but the work didn't sold the traffic issue.

I understand the City compromised with the shop owners to only have street fairs twice a year. However, the St. Pat's parade was always more enjoyable and attracted more people when combined with the street fair.

The City generally seems in favor of supporting ways for residents to get around town by means other than by car. Having accessible sidewalks should be a fundamental part of this effort. Unfortunately, being on foot of any number of streets in the city (Manhattan Ave, Monterey Blvd, and nearly any east/west street east of Valley) means snaking around obstructions and often walking into the street to avoid cars parked in driveways extending well into the sidewalk.

Some cities have provided smartphone-based 311 apps to report violations and make enforcement requests. Perhaps Hermosa Beach should consider something similar. Or at the very least, have parking enforcement step up its enforcement efforts.

After all, what good is a beautiful, walkable beach town if you can't actually walk it?